On November 9 from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m., a group of Native American dancers and drummers performed for the students and faculty at MATC West Campus in the Cafeteria to help celebrate Native American Heritage Day, sponsored by Student Government. Herman Logan, traditional dancer, also gave an educational commentary before and during the presentation. The drummers came from a drumming group called the Milwaukee Bucks, and many of the dancers and volunteers had personal connections with MATC and/or were members of the United Indian Center.
Several different tribes were represented including the Ho-Chunk, Apache, Stockridge-Munsee, Lakota, and Chippewa tribes.
After the presentation, the celebration moved to Room 117 where members from the United Indians of Milwaukee served traditional Native American food, including corn soup, fry bread, moose stew, buffalo meat, catfish, pumpkin pie and cedar tea to the large crowd of students and faculty as well.
Those responsible for bringing this event to life were Doug Meyer, Kayla Thundercloud and Daniel Preston, all Native American West Campus students.
When asked what he hoped to accomplish by hosting this event, Meyer stated “I wanted to bring a bit of our culture to students who may have never seen a dancer or drummer in person before.”
Meyer went on to say that he felt there was an “excellent turnout” and that there wasn’t even enough seating to serve food, estimating that at least 50 people attended.
The goal of this event was not only to show West Campus students different aspects of Native American culture, but to also educate them on how to respect other people’s beliefs and ways of life.